Service Canada holding back 85K passports amid mail strike [Video]

Approximately 85,000 new passports are being held back by Service Canada, which stopped mailing them out a week before the nationwide Canada Post strike.

“By holding residential mail several days in advance of a work stoppage, Service Canada has reduced the risk of having any passports held in Canada Post distribution centres,” an Employment and Social Development Canada spokesperson told CTVNews.ca. “Those passports will be mailed out once the labour disruption is over and regular mail service resumes.”

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Employment and Social Development Canada operates Service Canada, which issues Canadian passports.

Anticipating a potential labour disruption, Service Canada stopped mailing passport packages after Nov. 8. A week later on Nov. 15, approximately 55,000 Canada Post workers went on strikeafter failing to reach a negotiated agreement with their employer. Mail and parcels will not be accepted, processed or delivered until the strike is …